Going backwards
by Gray Tasare
Summary: In a world ruled by the supernatural, it's no surprise that even the boundaries of time can be broken. To what end? Even Gyaku Raito doesn't know. What he does know is that each jump brings enemies and friends, as well as a couple of years from his life.
1. Prologue

**Going backwards**

**Prologue**

At first it was weird. Definitely weird, but eventually, he became accustomed to it and started having fun. It was only after a few more jumps that he realized that his time may soon be up if it continued this way. He certainly didn't want to die young- literally.

It started with a seemingly innocuous deal with 12th division captain Urahara Kisuke.

He was experimenting on something called time-space and he, Gyaku Raito, had nothing better to do that day except for lounging about with members of the 11th squad. Raito helped in exchange for tips on how to summon his bankai, who after so many long years refused to come out, and all he had to do was lie down on a futon while Urahara fussed over this and that.

The first times were annoying because Urahara-sama would not stop talking and even his vice-captain, Sarugaki Hiyori, had to come in and hit him with a slipper until his nose bled. Raito got the hang of drowning him out and drift off to sleep. Urahara didn't say anything about it at all, so he assumed, what the heck, sleeping on the job was perfectly fine.

It turned out that it wasn't. At least for him; because when he woke up one day, it seemed like he overslept by a century or so and was staring into the mad eyes of a man in a black and white mask fit to scare the dead.

Raito barely got away. After that, and incidents where some members of the Gotei 13 chased him down alleys for being a crazy lunatic, he learned to be more careful and always, always, always try to learn what time-frame he was in.

He looked at a nearby pond and saw a relatively young man in his late twenties with raven hair and green eyes. Every jump had shaved off some of his years. Thunder rumbled in the distance and Raito wondered when and to what time the next jump would be.


	2. Hisana's handkerchief

**Hisana's handkerchief**

Gyaku Raito woke up with a hell of a hangover.

One moment he was drinking sake with a certain Ikkaku, Renji and their companion, Yumichika, who was just hanging around, talking about how some guy in their squad a long time ago suddenly went AWOL, the next moment he lay sprawled on the grass with the harsh morning sun in his face.

What's more, there was something on his back that was uncomfortably warm and squishy.

"Oh, shit."

Suddenly, a kid's shadow shielded his eyes. "Yo, mister, you okay?"

"Where am I, kid?" he replied, getting up and rubbing his head.

"Inuzuri," the kid wrinkled up his nose, "you may want to go to the river there, mister. You stink."

He waved the kid off. "Inuzuri?"

"Rukongai. Geesh, did you hit your head or something?"

He wished he had. In the far distance he saw the unmistakable swish and flutter of a white scarf that could only belong to the Kuchiki family. It disappeared in the shadows of the shanties. "Damn it if that isn't Ginrei-sama," he started on his feet and vainly looked for his own head scarf. The kid had "unknowingly" stuffed it in his own pocket.

"Any shinigami in the area, kid?" Raito asked.

The kid struggled to get out of Raito's grip, even trying to chomp down on Raito's fingers. "Lemme go, lemme go!"

He repeated the question.

"No, there's only her and that sad-looking guy with the long hair," the boy panted. Raito let him go and the boy ran off, but not before making sure to kick Raito in the shins and making a face when he was a few yards away. Raito shook his head.

He looked scruffy enough. If he was careful, he can hide his reiatsu and evade capture.

Stretching, he found another piece of cloth stuck to his scarf. It was a dainty handkerchief, with lace and all. At first, he wanted to shout out for the kid to come back and return the thing but decided that little runt couldn't have owned it in the first place. He pocketed it.

"Alright. Inuzuri." He sniffed. "Let's go." And he went towards the river.

There are three things one must make sure of before stripping and jumping into an unknown river: first, the river's depth, then the river's natural and possibly dangerous flora and fauna, and the last and most obvious thing was for the presence of members of the opposite sex.

Raito could have died right then and there as he splashed about like some kid when he suddenly looked into the eyes of a woman who was crying near the riverbed. Needless to say, Raito's antics had made her tears return from whence they came.

"I-I-I'm really sorry, ma'am," he stammered, lowering himself and wading towards the rocks where he had carelessly dropped his clothes. The sand was getting into places he preferred to be kept clean at all times but it was the only way to make sure that he didn't further embarrass himself. "If you could just turn away…"

Whether she did turn away or not while he was dressing as fast as he could, the woman was still at the riverbed when he was done.

As he walked, red-faced and feeling like a total idiot, towards her, he realized that she belonged to some sort of rich family, the way she was dressed. She was also so composed and demure. She looked like someone who owned a dainty little handkerchief to dry her tears.

"Ah!" he fished out the pale pink handkerchief from his pocket and presented it with a very low bow. "My apologies, madam, and I think this is yours."

The woman didn't extend her hand or anything of the sort which made Raito even more nervous. "I got it from a kid. It looked like it didn't belong to him so-" he was at a loss when the woman finally smiled.

"Thank you then," she reached out her hand but a coughing fit made her cover her mouth.

"Are you alright? Someone like you shouldn't be in Rukongai," he suddenly remembered the scarf he saw earlier. "There is someone of the Kuchiki clan here, perhaps he can help you get back if you're lost," Raito offered.

The woman only looked down. She looked so sad. "Byakuya-sama," she whispered, then looked up at Raito with doe-eyes. "I'm not lost. I used to live here."

"Really? Wait, Byakuya-sama? Kuchiki Byakuya?" Raito stopped himself. "How old is Byakuya-sama?"

If the woman was confused and was preparing to shout that a nudist lunatic was near her, she showed no signs of it. Instead, she answered with a meek voice, "He is my husband."

Raito just nodded. And nodded. And nodded. The Byakuya he knew was some hot-headed teen. The kid described the only foreigners there as: "just her and the sad-looking guy." "So," he began, "you used to live here, huh? And you said you're married to a Kuchiki?" Raito whistled. "Things really have changed since I've been there. So why are you back? If it was me, I'd be staying at the Kuchiki manor for days on end."

Her eyes grew wistful and welled up with tears again. "I'm looking for someone important to me," she replied, "I am happy for Byakuya-sama's kindness and I would stay by his side forever but-"

So it wasn't another man or an escape from domestic violence. "You have unfinished business, huh?" Raito finished, "I know how that feels."

He squatted near her and pointed up. "See there? As long as the sky turns blue when the sun shines, it's called another day. And every day that comes is a new beginning. So even if you don't finish this unfinished business, there are still more with each coming day. And you'll smile." He grinned. "As long as you look back, it's okay. Just don't walk back and things will work out. You'll see. No use ruining that pretty face with tears."

And she giggled. It wasn't a laugh but it was something in that direction. However, it was interrupted by another wave of coughing. He was going to go to her side but a cold voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Get away from my wife."

He slowly turned his head. Ah, so this was Byakuya. He looked very capable of sentencing someone to die without flinching. The woman put her hand on Byakuya's protective arm. "He's only trying to help," she said.

His gaze felt like a newly sharpened zanpaktou. "You should get home, you'll tire yourself out," was Byakuya's only reply as he led the woman away.

It was only when they had disappeared from his view that Raito realized that he hadn't asked who she was and that he was still holding on to her handkerchief.

Yep. You guessed it. I do not own Bleach or anything affiliated with Tite Kubo.

It was only after I submitted the prologue that I realized his aging backwards with every time jump was very similar to Amber's (from Darker than Black) and so I'm not claiming the idea to be mine. If you have anything to say (either a keep going or this reeks), feel free to do so. The review button is just below. Thanks a bunch.


	3. The secret spa

**II. The secret spa**

One of the top things on Gyaku Raito's bucket list was to infiltrate a women's spa and stare his heart out. He soon realized that he should have been more specific and added to his list that he not be caught by any of the ladies in the spa, especially if that one lady was Shihoin Yoruichi.

"I- I- I am extremely sorry your ladyship!" His forehead was getting chafed from touching the tatami mats. But right now, he didn't really much care as long as his forehead was attached to his head and his head was still attached to the rest of his body.

He didn't quite remember what happened; only that he was suddenly pulled from his feet by the same force that was placing him in various time periods and places. He landed face first into a huge tub of hot water and when he lifted his face, Yoruichi was staring at him.

He was the one who rushed out, destroying a couple of sliding doors in the process. After running out of momentum and running splat on a particularly hard door, Soi Fon plucked him off the floor and threw him into the corridor.

For the time it took Soi Fon to do that, the secret corps commander had donned on some clothes and was looking at him with a cat's curiosity.

"Shall we dispose of him, Yoruichi-sama?" Soi Foin's eyes gleamed menacingly. "For trespassing on the sacred ground that you tread?"

"Or make him suffer a painful and slow death for disturbing your bath?"

"Or feed him to passing hollows in the real world for seeing things that I should have seen?"

"My lady?"

Yoruichi prodded him with her thumb. "How did you get there?"

Soi Fon looked ready to explode. "My lady!"

Yoruichi didn't even look at her as she shooed her protégé away. "You can leave now, Soi Fon," she said.

"Yo!"

Soi Fon turned around angrily. "You!"

"Oh, hello, Kisuke," Yoruichi stood up. "This guy's good. You should recruit him." She jerked her thumb on the floor where Raito was melting in confusion.

Soi Fon stormed angrily away, her eyes shooting daggers at Urahara, who was scratching his head.

"It really seems that she doesn't like me at all," he shrugged. "So who's this guy?"

Yoruichi picked Raito up by the sleeves and shook him back and forth to make sure he was still alive. "No idea. Isn't he one of yours?"

Urahara peered closely at him. "Doesn't register. What 'd he do?"

"He got in," Yoruichi said seriously.

Urahara's face darkened. "I see."

Sweat drops were streaming down Raito's forehead like waterfalls. Finally: "Auuuugh! Whatever I did, I'm so sorry! I'm extremely sorry and it will never ever happen again. I didn't know, I was here then there and-"

Yoruichi suddenly conked him on the head. "You talk too much," she said, "ah, well, you can start by fixing up these doors that you wrecked."

"I'll look after him," Urahara volunteered. Yoruichi looked surprised, a tad bit disappointed, but shrugged it off. "Whatever," then she sashayed out of sight.

Urahara whistled. "Some woman, huh?"

"Eh, Urahara-sama?"

The smile on the dirty blonde's head was disconcerting, not to mention the fact that he strolled the Yoruichi mansion as he pleased. Where did he come from anyway? "No need for formalities. I just wanted to know how you got in our secret spa. We had about every precaution put there from reiatsu blockers to bolts of endless pain, but somehow you got in," he said. "You got in."

"I'm lucky?" Raito ventured out.

Urahara sighed. "Must be fun to disappear and drop out of nowhere as you please…" he mused. He stared silently for a while and Raito had to wave his hand over Urahara's face to snap him out of it. "What was I saying?"

"Something about dropping in and out of places but-" Raito ventured out, "you have a secret spa?"

"Well, you can't expect us to go out and have massages and all in broad daylight. What would the prisoners say?" Urahara stretched and scratched his head again.

_They think you're already weird._ But Raito didn't say anything as he pulled out bits and pieces of broken stuff. Yoruichi appeared some moments later and she invited Urahara to spar with her in the courtyard. Raito didn't get to watch much because he was mending doors but he thanked his lucky stars that whatever they were breaking out there wasn't part of his punishment.

All of them finished by sundown and as a reward, Yoruichi agreed that Raito deserved a drink at the secret spa.

He was apprehensive at first, but after getting used to the lights and the change in scenery and the fact that both Yoruichi and Urahara were downing sake like normal people, he relaxed and sank his feet into a warm bubbling basin. Everything about the room reminded him of the two people who built it secretly; and for him, it was funny, given the way he knew these two from his original time.

"Shihoin-sama, Urahara-sama-"

"Just Yoruichi and Kisuke when we're down here," Yoruichi said languidly, stretching out onto a recliner.

He cleared his throat. "You two are pretty close," he began but his voice only came out as a squeak in embarrassment, "but what about me?"

He snuck a look at Yoruichi, who was sucking at a cherry. "What?"

"You- you're not bothered that I've seen you- ah-"

"Naked? Come on, we're all grown-ups," she scoffed.

Raito glanced at Urahara. "Oh. So he's seen you naked?"

Crash.

Clang.

And the sound of sake being spit out at a hundred miles an hour.

Raito couldn't decide which face looked more aghast because everything became a blur as he got pulled out from time again and all he could muster was, "see you next time!"

Please review! Thanks! (I'm dying here…)


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